In comments Saturday, President Trump announced that he has decided to withdraw the US from the Intermediate Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty of 1987. The treaty limited both the US and Russia from having certain types of nuclear weapons.
US officials have been accusing Russia of violating the INF for years, though they have never proven it, and Russia has insisted the missiles in question were not strictly included by the ban. John Bolton has been pushing Trump on a withdrawal, while the State Department and Pentagon both opposed such a move.
Trump reiterated claims of Russian violations and also attacked President Obama for not doing something about it. Trump demanded that, now that the US has withdrawn from the treaty, Russia immediately vow unilateral compliance. He also demanded similar compliance out of China, who was never a party to INF in the first place.
The pullout was met by immediate criticism, with Mikhail Gorbachev, one of the original signatories, warning it is a reversal of decades of nuclear disarmament efforts. German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas was the first NATO official to criticize the move, saying the US should consider the consequences of the pullout for both Europe and for disarmament in general before acting unilaterally.
Russian officials faulted the US decision, saying Trump continues to “behave clumsily and crudely” around international agreements, and that the pullout is a “very dangerous step” toward an arms race.
Love that Trump peace train.
If only trump didn’t prove my initial prejudice against him, that I would welcome being wrong…he makes me despondent to acknowledge reality. Who are these neighbors that accept such filth.
And here I thought Bolton was suppose to be playing the role of bad cop to Trump’s good cop. Or was that Pompeo? Or Haley? Anyway, it seems that our hope for better relations with Russia is in peril.
Bolton’s an outright lunatic who belongs in an insane asylum, not in the White House .. And as for Pompous Pompeo, he’s an arrogant brat who doesn’t belong in the State Dept.; he’s CIA, through and through. Screeching Haley’s resigned her post as US Ambassador to the UN; good riddance to her, she can now return to what she does best .. intermingle with the customers at the local Waffle House.
Trump’s cutting off his nose to spite his face in announcing America’s withdrawal from the intermediate nuclear forces treaty; worse yet, he’s undoing all the work his predecessors had done in accomplishing this treaty. He sorely needs to rid the WH of the Trotskyists aka Neocons, who are behind this lunacy, and quit taking orders from one of the most dangerous men in the world .. Bibzy Satanyahoo.
Still insulting work, I see.
..from M K Bhadrakumar on the INF treaty dropout —
the last sentence is key. The MIC opening up a new group of rockets the the treasury must purchase.
Yes that is going to inflate the deficit even more.
The challenge is: how to change the direction the world is going – towards nuclear war – when every argument against nuclear weapon that can be made has been made, any tactic that can be tried, has been?
That is the enormity of the task. It is important not to see things in terms of the Cold War: the Cold war was the peace. We must not see things in terms of a new Cold War. That just adds another danger. Withdrawing from the INF will result in a new ‘arms race’. But it won’t be a new arms race: it will a preparation for war.
Similarly, there will be debate about Deterrence. Deterrence doctrine was made for the 20th century Cold War but is irrelevant in the 21st and will ultimately fail us. Deterrence can no longer prevent the scenarios where Mutual Assured Destruction will be resorted to. We will soon face the scenario that (unlike the Cuban missile crisis) one protagonist will not be able to step back from the brink, blindly stumbling into a situation they cannot de-escalate. All that is left is Deterrence’s fall-back position – annihilation.
The pattern of history is clear. Power (manifested as interest) has been present in every conflict throughout history – no exception. It is the underlying motivation for war. Other cultural factors might change, but not power.
Interest cuts across all apparently unifying principles: family, kin, nation, religion, ideology, politics – everything. We unite with the enemies of our principles, because that is what serves our interest. It is power, not any of the above concepts, that is the cause of war.
It is the one thing we will destroy ourselves for, as well as everyone else. When core interests are threatened and existential threat looms nations go to war. As a result every civilization/nation eventually gets the war it is trying to avoid: utter defeat. This applies as much today as any other time in history. Leaders and decision-makers delude themselves, thinking they can avoid their fate – they can’t. If survival is threatened, there is no alternative to war, however destructive. That is the message that needs to be conveyed to leaders who are dragging us into nuclear holocaust. Will they heed it?
https://www.ghostsofhistory.wordpress.com/
Yes, the US sees increasing resistance to its role as world bully and won’t stand for it.
…from the 2018 National Defense Strategy
What a bunch of nut jobs. Chicken hawk Bolton is running foreign policy and Trump resembles that head bobbing toy people put on the dash of their cars. Just as stupid too.
If these fools want to play Russian Roulette they should use their own heads and leave off the nuclear weapons.
It makes perfect sense to pull out of this agreement .Russia has violated the terms of this agreement by stationing the Iskandar nuclear capable missile systems in the Kaliningrad. It also has developed and tested a 9M729 in violation of the treaty. America has no choice but,to activate Aegis Ashore launchers for SM3 missiles stationed in Romania. After testing and showcasing hypersonic missile system and doing a mock presentation of nuking America’s President Trumps Mar a Lago Resort what do the Russians expect? After Russia has claimed to develop and test these new weapons now it wants to talk and have everyone sit down and come up with a new agreement. Why would America be inclined to do that at a time when we see what happened the first time around? America has developed a nuclear arsenal so powerful, I truly pray no one ever has to be on the receiving end of the destruction it will cause. Russians must understand this is a new cold war,with every action will come a reaction. Helping Trump get elected was Russia’s biggest mistake now look what’s happening. Biggest military build up in history,a space force,a nuclear arsenal upgrade on a massive scale, NATO on a spending spree ,nuclear capable missile systems de-ployed on your doorsteps after this treaty is abolished. Do you see what you created? People can say what they want about Hillary but,she would’ve been just like Obama ,weak. Thanks Russia we couldn’t have done it without you!!! Early voting for the midterms start today so,help keep the Republicans in power, Trump needs it so,he can keep helping y’all….Hahaha. …
“America has no choice”
Wrong.
Kaliningrad is under threat by NATO violations. Last I checked, Kaliningrad is Russia. The U.S. puts nukes everywhere surrounding Russia. Do you want nukes in Mexico and Canada pointed at us ?????
Do you copy from a pile of neocon propaganda posters in you parents basement?
Can we get Justin in here to explain how this disrupts the war party?
No surprise that this is a Bolton “achievement.”
Antarticus who do you think those Russians developed those Hypersonic weapons for? If we don’t have them why do they?,It’s simple because they developed, and tested them in violation of the treaty.As far as the Kaliningrad is concerned no one disputes it’s Russian territory but,those missiles stationed there are also low altitude dual missile systems that are in violation of the treaty aswell. America is responding to the new nuclear arsenals Russia possesses by unleashing its low altitude missile systems that can launch an nuclear attack quickly to counter this “NEW “threat. These will be equipped with the mini nuclear concept that’s virtually impossible to stop, developed specifically for the S-400 missile defense system.
All wrong. The Russians did not add to “more warheads” as per the 2010 New Start treaty. The GOP forced deployment of anti-missile systems on the Russian border in exchange for their votes to ratify the New Start. This deployment caused the Russians to develop and deploy delivery systems to counter this illegal US system.
Kmon Dave the Russians developed these systems at a time when America had one of the weakest presidents in history, Obama .He sent Hillary with a big reset button and the Russians sensed weakness and pounced. Why do you think China built a fortress in the South China Sea and North Korea was testing ballistic missiles on his watch.I’m glad the Russians helped get Hillary defeated and delivered us Trump it serves them right for meddling in our elections they got nothing in return. Someone should’ve pulled out the Reagen archives and explained to them who they where helping. Vote Republican!!!
Try a little “cause and effect” Sam, or whoever you are today, why would the Russians deploy hypersonic missiles ? Answer, to negate the illegal US anti-missile systems on their borders, which the GOP put there. Vote Republican? Why not just go ahead and smack your nose with a hammmer, makes as much sense.
Sorry Jimmy but the Russkies will not be playing the arms race again. This idea has the stench of Jon Bolton and he is still stuck in the second gear.